SMORGASBORD

Here are a few albums I've been listening to and want to share

KADAVAR: For The Dead Travel Fast

Germany's Kadavar are back and have returned to a more ominous, evil type of sound and feel, with the same kind of quality we have become accustomed to from these hard rock virtuosos.

Here's my favorite track, "Evil Forces":

And here's a video for the song "Demons In My Mind":  It opens with a guitar sound that immediately reminds me of Dixie Witch's song "Saving Grace".  The video has a Duna Jam look to it.  Good old-fashioned 1970's inspired rock, no matter how you slice it:

DESERT SESSIONS: Vols. 11 & 12

Josh Homme has been making mix tapes of music with his friends and acquaintances since 1997, and they are called Desert Sessions because they are recorded in the desert in Joshua Tree, California.  The sessions are released in groups of two (which together are generally the length of a single album), and have included quite a range of guest artists over the years.  This latest installment, volumes 11 and 12, are titled "Arrivederci Despair" and "Tightwads & Nitwits & Critics & Heels", respectively and include Les Claypool and Billy Gibbons among many other guest artists.

This one's pretty interesting:  Lyrics and vocals by Billy Gibbons (and Jake Shears), bass by Les Claypool and guitar by Josh.  It's called "Move Together":

Here's the tune with the official video, "Crucifire":

STRAYS: TIME | DEATH | VOID | DREAM

I reviewed Strays' last album here and loved it, so I picked this one up on principle and was surprised to hear how different it is.  This one has really gone in a Dylan Carlson's Earth sort of direction.  It is meant to be played in its entirety without skipping tracks, and really takes you through a gamut of ominous moods and atmospheres, ranging from aggressively raunchy to spacey and brooding.  Definitely worth your while, but this will not appeal to everyone due to the time investment required to fully appreciate what's been done here.  

Now after saying the whole album should be listened to, cover to cover, here's the longest track, entitled "War Is God".  It has the most variety of all the tracks on the album. 

CLOUDS TASTE SATANIC: SECOND SIGHT

Clouds Taste Satanic has released their second album of the year.  Each contains only two tracks, combining for over forty minutes of heavy-duty, brain-melting instrumental creative goodness.  Here's another album that will be overlooked by many due to the length of time investment required, but this band truly sets themselves apart from the pack when it comes to instrumental hard rock.  

Check out the title track, "Second Sight" if you dare:

Did you ever know a kid in school who would have gotten picked on because of his name if he wasn't so tough?  Well Clouds Taste Satanic would be a really stupid name for a bad band but this Brooklyn based band is so good at what they do that they've made the name cool.

Didn't get to post last weekend, so wanted to make up for it with a meaty one.  

Hope you found something you like!

-ULTRA

Rainbows Are Free

RAINBOWS ARE FREE TO RELEASE NEW ALBUM

Argonauta Records To Release "Head Pains" On November 29th

Here's the teaser track, "Shapeshifter". 

It's way more laid back and trippy than I expected, but RAF's first two albums rival any other rock or stoner rock albums in their respective release years, so I expect greatness from "Head Pains".

In honor of this news, I am reposting one of my earliest reviews on this site, from RAF's second album, "Waves Ahead Of  The Ocean":

RAINBOWS ARE FREE: Waves Ahead of the Ocean (REPOST)

   I feel like a kid on Christmas reviewing this one. I just became aware of this f’in great band from Oklahoma, and want to say to them “Where have I been all your life?” Rainbows Are Free is an oddball name for a really oddball band, but these oddballs KICK ASS. Richie Tarver has such an awesome fuzz guitar sound, and the songwriting is really inspired and energetic. And the weirdest and possibly coolest thing about Rainbows Are Free is Brandon Kistler’s vocals. He’s got this Jim Morrison/Jim Dandy thing going on in the sense that his singing is different but totally sincere, so that instead of coming across as strange he leaves the listener marveling at how cool he is. I can “like” tunes when I listen to them on my mp3 player, and within two listens of this album I had every tune on this album marked as a like, and if the machine would let me I would have marked them as “love.” I paid $7 to download this on bandcamp (How cool is bandcamp?). I will give this album so many hours of listening it will end up costing me pennies per hour. I loved the album so much I had to pick up the band’s previous album, “Believers In Medicine”. Equally awesome album which made me wonder why I had never heard of a band this great before. Long story short: if you consider yourself a “stoner rock” fan, Rainbows Are Free are an essential addition to your collection. Definitely heavy but definitely not heavy metal. Hard rock with an emphasis on hard, and a focus on awesome.

"Rainbows Are Free's sonic locus appears on the rock n roll family tree at the point where proto-metal and psychedelia shared a common apocryphal ancestor before branching off into their own distinct lineages" - Richie Tarver. 

What he said. It’s still early, but I can’t imagine this not ending up on my “best of 2014” list.

- ULTRA

Check out "The Botanist":

(addition: some of the coolest lyrics ever)

Live: "JC Vs Pennicilin and Are You Dead":

RAF is:
Brandon Kistler-Vox
Richie Tarver-Lead Guitar
Chad Hogue- Bass
Bobby Onspaugh-Drums

NIGHTSTALKER: GREAT HALLUCINATIONS

Greek Stoner Rock Champions Return

Nightstalker is one of my favorite stoner rock bands.  Argy's voice,  Tolis' riffs delivered with the perfect amount of fuzz, and Andreas and Dinos on bass and drums expertly holding it all together.  Few things in life are as sure a bet as the quality of a Nightstalker album.  

Andreas' bass playing is more prominent on this new album, and Tolis is a total boss.  Check them out on the album's opening track, "Black Cloud":

This one's cool too, with a little bit of Argy falsetto at the beginning: "Sad Site Of The City":

Tolis' soloing on "Sweet Knife" reminds me of Tim Sult, and had me daydreaming about what it would sound like if Nightstalker and Clutch traded guitar players for an album.

Anyhow, Nightstalker is:

Argy: vocals

Andreas Lagios: Bass

Tolis Motsios: Guitar

Dinos Roulos: Drums

You can pick up this gem here on Bandcamp, or order directly from Heavy Psych Sounds as I did, here:

Until Next time:

-ULTRA

PS: Lots more posts below.  If you haven't read em yet, get after it!

Look What I Found

Cool Footage of Opeth in the Leominster Newbury Comics

I've been really enjoying the new album "In Cauda Venenum", so decided to poke around Youtube and found this footage of Opeth performing in a Leominster Massachusetts record store, back in 2013.

Have you seen this?  I hadn't, and think it's awesome.
The little transition that happens around 6:38 is tremendous.

And here's another one, from my favorite Opeth album:
The song finishes with a smooth but sick keyboard solo, followed by a super-tasty acoustic guitar solo. 

I got to see Opeth play at the House of Blues on the Watershed tour, and they were immense.  They don't get lazy for even an instant, and seem like they want to be there as much as you do.

I recommend checking out the new album, which contains both Swedish and English discs if you buy it on CD.  

Next time

-ULTRA

2019 Must Own

PLANET OF ZEUS: Faith In Physics

Planet of Zeus' Crowning Achievement

"Faith In Physics" is Planet of Zeus' equivalent of Led Zeppelin's "IV" or AC/DC's "Back In Black", or Iron Maiden's "Piece Of Mind", or...(you get the picture).  I love all of this band's albums, but this one has it all.  The songwriting and production quality have reached the stratosphere, and there is a variety within the album that will satisfy hard rock fans, stoner rock fans and metal heads alike.

Planet of Zeus has been together for more than a decade now, and they are a well-oiled machine, specifically a hard-rock tractor-trailer travelling at full speed.  

Check out "All These Happy People":

(are they talking about these guys?)

And here's my early favorite on the album, "Man Vs. God":

Planet of Zeus are from Athens, and are:

Babis Papanikolaou-Vox & Guitars
Stelios Provis-Guitars
Giannis Vrazos- Bass
Serapheim Giannakopoulos-Drums

This album will go down as an all-time hard rock classic, and you can find it here on bandcamp.  I personally ordered my copy directly from the Heavy Psych Sounds website here.

Still here?  Go and check the rest of this album out, and I'll catch you next weekend!

-ULTRA

KARKAOS VLOG #1 - Welcome Morgan!

Exclusive HMT Recommendation - Phoenix Titan set to release “Avatar Of Fire” on Sept. 27th!

Avatar Of Fire

Band: Phoenix Titan

Release Date: Sept. 27th

Line-up:

Harri Ahola - vocals

Santtu Rautiainen - guitar

Topi Vuorela - guitar

Tatu Rautiainen - drums

Juhana ”Jusa” Ovaska - Bass

https://www.facebook.com/phoenixtitanband/

https://www.instagram.com/phoenixtitanband/

Phoenix Titan is a 5-piece heavy metal band playing melodic metal with
tight riffs and attitude. Band is officially formed in 2014, but we've all
been playing 15+ years in different line-ups before joining our forces.

Our debut album “Avatar Of Fire” will be released soon, on Friday 27th
September. The album is produced by Aksu Hanttu (Entwine, S-tool, Tuoni)
and mastered by Svante Forsbäck, Chartmakers (Some references: Rammstein,
Michael Monroe, Entombed, Apocalyptica etc.).


From the Desk of
HMT EDITOR, GROWNMAN
Hi readers, please check out the debut album rom Phoenix Titan. For fans of bands like Iron Maiden and Blaze Bayley solo albums. They offer a great take on the power and melodic metal style.